Help Save NY Funds for Strays

Mum is worried because there isn't enough money to begin with and now they want to cut even more!

If you have some time to help that will be very appreciated,

Purrs,

Wolfie

Protect TNR funds-

Despite our efforts, Governor Eliot Spitzer is sticking with his budget plan to divert
funding from two critical animal welfare programs to instead pay the salaries and fringe benefits of state employees. We need your help to convince the Senate and Assembly to reject this proposal as they negotiate a final budget in the next few weeks.

The proposed budget would remove $150,000 from the $3 surcharge on unaltered dog licensesâ€”one of the main sources of funding for New Yorkâ€™s Low Cost Spay/Neuter
Programâ€”to pay the salaries of Agriculture Department employees.

The law covers low-income pet owners and depleting the fund now will mean that many New York pet owners eligible for affordable spay/neuter services will not receive help in much-needed circumstances.

(The budget would also divert $100,000 from the
license fees collected from pet dealers to pay for
fringe benefits for state employees, which would
essentially deplete this fund for the year.

Currently, these license fees are used for enforcement of the pet dealer licensing law, which requires that pet stores and dog breeders comply with minimum animal care and consumer protection standards. Even with the licensing
law, pet dealers are still the subject of animal
cruelty and consumer complaints throughout the state.

Cutting funding for this program so substantially will mean even less effective enforcement of the law.)

What You Can Do

Please call or write to Governor Spitzer, Senate
Majority Leader Joe Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and your own state representatives. Urge them to support a budget that increases, rather than depletes, the resources of the Animal Population Control Program and Pet Dealer Licensing Law.